Monday
Jul272009
Iran: English Text of Khatami-Mousavi-Karroubi Letter to Grand Ayatollahs (25 July)
Monday, July 27, 2009 at 11:58
The Latest from Iran (27 July): A President Dangling in the Wind?
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UPDATE (27 July, 1900 GMT): Ayatollah Yousuf Sanei has offered the first response to the letter:
On Saturday, our correspondent Mani broke the news (0900 GMT): "In an open letter, a number of reformist politicians led by Mohammad Khatami, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have asked the Grand Ayatollahs of Qom to remind 'relevant segments of the establishment' of 'the dire consequences” of their 'anti-legal methodologies'. The letter asks the Grand Ayatollahs to intervene to free the current post-election detainees."
Subsequently, Keeping the Change evaluated: “Should the Reformists be able to win over a majority of the marjahs [high-ranking clerics], it…would constitute the serious religiously-based challenge to the regime’s behavior that the Reformists have been after, but have heretofore been unable to obtain.”
The English translation of the letter, provided by Mir Hossein Mousavi's Facebook page:
In the name of God, the Compassionate and the Merciful
To the honourable grand Marjahs (may God keep them for us):
Greetings. As you are aware, at the same time as the announcement of the results of the tenth presidential election, an extensive wave of arrests of many campaign activists from the non-governmental candidates as well as citizens who took part in the peaceful demonstrations started, which in its continuation, because of the expansion of the people’s objections to the various and extensive violations that happened before, during and after the election, has increased and is still ongoing. The individual or group arrests of the people in different social classes such as University professors, political activists and journalists, without the legal warrant and by violent confrontations and use of interrogation methods that are reminiscence of the dark days of Shah’s ruling, which most of the individuals signing this letter were for several times victims of them during those days, under no circumstances is and will be appropriate for a government and a country that claims to have established justice and fairness, and will taint Islamic Republic’s face in hearts and spirits of every Iranian and in world spotlight.
Even more disastrous is the fact that the security systems are insisting on proving their fictional and completely wrong theories for introducing the activists as foreign agents or intriguers of velvet revolution, and for this reason have committed to unlawful, unethical and illegitimate attempts to get confessions. The governmental propaganda tools and especially IRIB (the state-run televisions and radios) are taking part in this project and by presenting staged confessions try to prove such imaginary accusations against the movement of the people which has formed only to protect the “republic” in the government. These days the worried families, left unaware of the fate of their loved ones whom their only crime is having had an active role in the campaigns of the non-governmental candidates, are facing closed doors in their repeated inquiries to the officials. The conspirator organizations have elevated the situation to a degree that are portraying membership in the campaigns as an unforgivable crime; and this is despite the fact the departed founder of the Revolution (Imam Khomeini) and the high-ranked officials of the government have encouraged and approved such activities. Really based on what legal, religious or logical principle can one explain the practice of repeated torture against those who live under the protection of Islam? And with silence in front of all this violence and cruelty, how can one brag about the kindness of the government that has set the religion of Mohammad as its guidance? These days receiving disturbing news about the physical and mental health of several of the detainees has added to the uncertainties. The principle of being innocent [until proven guilty] and avoiding prejudgment are easily overlooked (“Judging the trusted by relying on the assumption is against justice”) and violating the rights stated in the constitution and ordinary laws has become routine and of course will have no outcome other than elevating public mistrust and distancing them from the government. These uncertainties and anxieties have shadowed over the lives of a large number of Iranian citizens; and because of the practice of illegal means and the narcissism of the security forces on one hand and the patriotism and loyalty to the Islamic Republic as well as reluctance toward petitioning to the international authorities on the other hand, have created a very difficult situation for the families of the prisoners.
The only way out of this situation is clear and strong action for stopping the militarization of the environment after the election, cutting off the hands of irresponsible agents, releasing all detainees and returning the process of investigation of the accusations to its legal course. We plea to you, the Maraje, as being the reference and support of the great nation of Iran, to remind the government about the damaging outcomes of their unlawful acts and warn them about the expansion of oppression in the Islamic Republic. All this was mentioned in accordance with the words of the Imam of justice that “people will not improve unless the government does, and the government won’t improve unless by the persistence of people” and we call almighty God as our witness that we are not thinking about anything other than the improvement in the affairs of the country and the people.
With wishing you peace and the kindness of God and his blessings
Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, Mehdi Karoubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Morteza Alviri, Seyyed Kazem Akrami, Rahim Abolhasani, Mahnaz Azarnia, Ahmadipour, Jamshid Ansari, Seyyed Hashem Aghajari, Mohsen Armin, Ghorban Behzadian-Nejad, Saeed Bigdeli, Mohammad Bagherian, Mohsen Beheshti-Seresht, Behnam Bohloumi, Ali Bagheri, Hasan Bigham, Alireza Beheshti-Shirazi, Mohammad-Reza Tajik, Mohammad Taghikhani, Mohsen Tarkashvand, Mohammad-Ali Tofighi, Mehdi Tahaghoghi, Abed Jafari, Seyyed Mohammad-Reza Hosseini-Beheshti, Seyyed Ali-Reza Hosseini-Beheshti, Najafgholi Habibi, Ali-Mohammad Hazeri, Seyyed Mahmoud Hosseini, Farhad Darvish-Setalani, Abdolreza Rokneldin-Eftekhari, Mohsen Rahami, Mohammad Rahimian, Masoud Roughani-Zanjani, Ali Zamani, Saeed Semnanian, Ali Saee, Mohammad Salamati, Gholamreza Shah-Hosseini, Mohammad Shahrestanaki, Mahmoud Sadeghi, Hosein Sadeghi, Abdollah Tootian, Gholamreza Zarifian, Mohammad-Reza Zafarghandi, Ali Arabmazar-Yazdi, Ali-Akbar Enayati, Hassan Azimi, Seyyed Nour-Mohammad Aghili, Abas Abdi, Mohammad-Reza Ali-Hosseini, Faramarz Falahi, Mohammad Farhadi, Hossein Forotan, Abolfazl Ghadiani, Mohammad-Kazem Kouhi, Abolfazl Kazazi, Farshad Moumeni, Abas Manouchehri, Mohammad Moghadam, Ali Mohades, Hossein Mortazavi, Hamid Mirzadeh, Korous Nik-Niayee, Abdollah Naseri, Mohammad-Ali Najafi, Seyyed Hashem Hedayati, Abas Yazdanfar.
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UPDATE (27 July, 1900 GMT): Ayatollah Yousuf Sanei has offered the first response to the letter:The people according the the constitution must be in charge of their fate. Therefore we must move in a direction that logic, freedom of speech, honesty and defending human rights will replace oppression, perfidy, injustice, and torture --- concepts that are the results of selfish and autocratic and unpopular governments. Unfortunately....we have been witnessing the defamation, perfidy, imprisonment, oppression, torture, and even killing of those people who have peacefully demonstrated to defend their rights.
Therefore, due to the necessity that is religiously incumbent upon me to prevent the tyranny of oppressors, I declare to all individuals who are responsible (either by participation or causation) of subjecting the people to killings, brutal physical violence, imprisonment and torture in prisons..that oppressing people that have only God to defend them qualifies as one of the worst kinds of mortal sin....and all such individuals must repent and try to obtain the forgiveness of those whom they have oppressed...and in fact attend to the kindly advice of Ayatollah Rafsanjani...so that the Government does not add any more sins to its already heavy conscience....I also would like to reiterate to you [Khatami-Mousavi-Karroubi], and all beloved citizens of Islamic Iran both within and without the country, and to all of those that are trying to provide a conduit so that the voice of the protesters to the election can be heard: do not let the pressures, violence and suppressions to cause you to lose heart and thereby allow the will of the oppressors to happen....
I thank God for the fact that you gentlemen by maintaining a united front...have been able concurrently to attract the support of the people especially that of the younger generation....[Your efforts] in defending the rights of humanity and popular governance will leave a long lasting mark in society.
On Saturday, our correspondent Mani broke the news (0900 GMT): "In an open letter, a number of reformist politicians led by Mohammad Khatami, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have asked the Grand Ayatollahs of Qom to remind 'relevant segments of the establishment' of 'the dire consequences” of their 'anti-legal methodologies'. The letter asks the Grand Ayatollahs to intervene to free the current post-election detainees."
Subsequently, Keeping the Change evaluated: “Should the Reformists be able to win over a majority of the marjahs [high-ranking clerics], it…would constitute the serious religiously-based challenge to the regime’s behavior that the Reformists have been after, but have heretofore been unable to obtain.”
The English translation of the letter, provided by Mir Hossein Mousavi's Facebook page:
In the name of God, the Compassionate and the Merciful
To the honourable grand Marjahs (may God keep them for us):
Greetings. As you are aware, at the same time as the announcement of the results of the tenth presidential election, an extensive wave of arrests of many campaign activists from the non-governmental candidates as well as citizens who took part in the peaceful demonstrations started, which in its continuation, because of the expansion of the people’s objections to the various and extensive violations that happened before, during and after the election, has increased and is still ongoing. The individual or group arrests of the people in different social classes such as University professors, political activists and journalists, without the legal warrant and by violent confrontations and use of interrogation methods that are reminiscence of the dark days of Shah’s ruling, which most of the individuals signing this letter were for several times victims of them during those days, under no circumstances is and will be appropriate for a government and a country that claims to have established justice and fairness, and will taint Islamic Republic’s face in hearts and spirits of every Iranian and in world spotlight.
Even more disastrous is the fact that the security systems are insisting on proving their fictional and completely wrong theories for introducing the activists as foreign agents or intriguers of velvet revolution, and for this reason have committed to unlawful, unethical and illegitimate attempts to get confessions. The governmental propaganda tools and especially IRIB (the state-run televisions and radios) are taking part in this project and by presenting staged confessions try to prove such imaginary accusations against the movement of the people which has formed only to protect the “republic” in the government. These days the worried families, left unaware of the fate of their loved ones whom their only crime is having had an active role in the campaigns of the non-governmental candidates, are facing closed doors in their repeated inquiries to the officials. The conspirator organizations have elevated the situation to a degree that are portraying membership in the campaigns as an unforgivable crime; and this is despite the fact the departed founder of the Revolution (Imam Khomeini) and the high-ranked officials of the government have encouraged and approved such activities. Really based on what legal, religious or logical principle can one explain the practice of repeated torture against those who live under the protection of Islam? And with silence in front of all this violence and cruelty, how can one brag about the kindness of the government that has set the religion of Mohammad as its guidance? These days receiving disturbing news about the physical and mental health of several of the detainees has added to the uncertainties. The principle of being innocent [until proven guilty] and avoiding prejudgment are easily overlooked (“Judging the trusted by relying on the assumption is against justice”) and violating the rights stated in the constitution and ordinary laws has become routine and of course will have no outcome other than elevating public mistrust and distancing them from the government. These uncertainties and anxieties have shadowed over the lives of a large number of Iranian citizens; and because of the practice of illegal means and the narcissism of the security forces on one hand and the patriotism and loyalty to the Islamic Republic as well as reluctance toward petitioning to the international authorities on the other hand, have created a very difficult situation for the families of the prisoners.
The only way out of this situation is clear and strong action for stopping the militarization of the environment after the election, cutting off the hands of irresponsible agents, releasing all detainees and returning the process of investigation of the accusations to its legal course. We plea to you, the Maraje, as being the reference and support of the great nation of Iran, to remind the government about the damaging outcomes of their unlawful acts and warn them about the expansion of oppression in the Islamic Republic. All this was mentioned in accordance with the words of the Imam of justice that “people will not improve unless the government does, and the government won’t improve unless by the persistence of people” and we call almighty God as our witness that we are not thinking about anything other than the improvement in the affairs of the country and the people.
With wishing you peace and the kindness of God and his blessings
Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, Mehdi Karoubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Morteza Alviri, Seyyed Kazem Akrami, Rahim Abolhasani, Mahnaz Azarnia, Ahmadipour, Jamshid Ansari, Seyyed Hashem Aghajari, Mohsen Armin, Ghorban Behzadian-Nejad, Saeed Bigdeli, Mohammad Bagherian, Mohsen Beheshti-Seresht, Behnam Bohloumi, Ali Bagheri, Hasan Bigham, Alireza Beheshti-Shirazi, Mohammad-Reza Tajik, Mohammad Taghikhani, Mohsen Tarkashvand, Mohammad-Ali Tofighi, Mehdi Tahaghoghi, Abed Jafari, Seyyed Mohammad-Reza Hosseini-Beheshti, Seyyed Ali-Reza Hosseini-Beheshti, Najafgholi Habibi, Ali-Mohammad Hazeri, Seyyed Mahmoud Hosseini, Farhad Darvish-Setalani, Abdolreza Rokneldin-Eftekhari, Mohsen Rahami, Mohammad Rahimian, Masoud Roughani-Zanjani, Ali Zamani, Saeed Semnanian, Ali Saee, Mohammad Salamati, Gholamreza Shah-Hosseini, Mohammad Shahrestanaki, Mahmoud Sadeghi, Hosein Sadeghi, Abdollah Tootian, Gholamreza Zarifian, Mohammad-Reza Zafarghandi, Ali Arabmazar-Yazdi, Ali-Akbar Enayati, Hassan Azimi, Seyyed Nour-Mohammad Aghili, Abas Abdi, Mohammad-Reza Ali-Hosseini, Faramarz Falahi, Mohammad Farhadi, Hossein Forotan, Abolfazl Ghadiani, Mohammad-Kazem Kouhi, Abolfazl Kazazi, Farshad Moumeni, Abas Manouchehri, Mohammad Moghadam, Ali Mohades, Hossein Mortazavi, Hamid Mirzadeh, Korous Nik-Niayee, Abdollah Naseri, Mohammad-Ali Najafi, Seyyed Hashem Hedayati, Abas Yazdanfar.
The Arabic-language newspaper 
In the furour over the Presidential election, the most intriguing political contest may have taken place, behind the street scenes, in Iran's religious centre, south of Tehran in the dusty city of Qom.